THE USE OF REQUEST STRATEGIES BY THAI AND FILIPINO TEACHERS

Pakin Onchaiya; On-Usa Phimsawat

THE USE OF REQUEST STRATEGIES BY THAI AND FILIPINO TEACHERS

Pakin Onchaiya, On-Usa Phimsawat

Abstract

Abstract
Requests are important speech acts that can be susceptible to misunderstanding. For English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in particular, it can be difficult for them to use appropriate linguistic forms to express their requests and strategies to accomplish their intentions. This study investigated the English request strategies used by 30 Thai and 30 Filipino teachers, as well as the differences in their request strategies regarding directness levels based on Schauer’s (2009) taxonomy. By using a triangulation approach, two methods of data collection – Written Discourse Completion Test (WDCT) and interview – were utilised to investigate request strategies and additional complications that might affect the use of these strategies. The results revealed that Thai teachers used direct as much as indirect requests, while Filipino teachers mostly used indirect requests. There were significant differences between the groups of Thai and Filipino teachers in their use of six different strategies. In terms of the social aspect of making a request and other related information, both groups had high awareness of social status and social distance. Although Thai teachers had more difficulties in making requests, differences in English proficiency had no effect on request strategy choice, except for the use of imperatives for direct requests. The present study’s significance lies in the fact that in the linguistic field of pragmatics, people from different cultures showed their verbal behaviour differently as a result of various factors, such as pragmatic proficiency, pragmatic awareness and interlanguage competence.

Keywords

Request strategies; Pragmatic competence; Social status; Cultural differences; Linguistic competence

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